Chapter 1829: 'Yours, inevitably.'

"Hehehe~"

The laughter came from Aether.

His head slowly lifted.

A wicked grin stretched across his face.

His body began to rise from the ground, not by standing, but by flowing upward as though gravity had forgotten that he existed.

Darkness leaked through the cracks in his skin before crawling across his body once more, forming a twisted shell around him.

Yet it was thinner than before.

The darkness no longer looked like it was consuming him.

It looked like it belonged to him!!

"You call me a coward... after leaving me to rot in the dark?" Aether chuckled, his voice warped by something far deeper than anger.

"And now you drag me back into the light and pretend you came to save me? Tell me, bitch... who the hell gave you the right? Crawling back to ’save’ me?"

His grin widened.

"Bring me back? You wanted me back... Look closely, then. I’m here. I’m fucking back." His grin widened.

"So... what are you going to do now?"

Prophetess clawed at the hand around her throat, desperately trying to breathe.

"Aether... Y-You need to stop this. I know you’re angry... I know you lost the one who kept you grounded...

The one who reminded you who you were... but... but this isn’t you."

Her voice trembled.

"The primordial blood is affecting your emotions. I-It’s feeding on your grief, your anger... everything you’ve buried inside yourself. The twisted form of yours.... It’s taking control of you... twisting beyond what you feel until you can’t tell your own hatred from... i-its hunger."

"Aether... p-p-please. You have to fight it. Whatever it’s making you feel... that’s not who you are.

You’re still in there. I know you are.... You just have to— Arrgh!"

The dark hands tightened.

Her words collapsed into a strangled cry.

Aether stared at her without blinking.

"I think you got it wrong"

"No... It isn’t controlling me."

"..."

His smile slowly faded, leaving behind an unsettling emptiness.

"You keep searching for something to blame, Prophetess. The blood... The Primordial... The madness... But there is nothing inside me holding the knife"

The darkness around his body began to ripple.

"Hehe~I am the one holding it."

"I chose this!!"

A faint laugh escaped him.

"Do you understand?"

His shoulders relaxed.

"For the first time... there is no voice telling me who I have to be."

The darkness crawled across his skin like living ink.

"And for the first time... no one is telling me what I SHOULD be."

He slowly clenched his fist.

"No one to save."

"No one to protect."

"No one to forgive."

His breathing steadied.

"No world demanding that I bleed for it."

Aether lifted his head.

"I can finally breathe."

The ground beneath his feet began to fracture.

"There is only me."

The cracks spread outward.

"And for the first time in my existence... I can finally be liberated."

The darkness surged behind him.

"I don’t feel trapped anymore. I don’t feel.... human anymore."

His eyes glowed through the darkness.

"I feel..."

He paused, almost savouring the sensation.

"ahhh...limitless."

"You call it losing myself."

His voice became eerily soft.

"I call it finally finding myself."

Aether tilted his head.

"So tell me, Prophetess..."

His grin slowly stretched across his face.

"If this is madness... why does it feel so much like freedom?"

"Not the freedom you gave me."

His eyes locked onto Prophetess.

"The freedom... I took."

The air trembled.

"I have spent my life being something for everyone else."

"A saviour."

"A husband."

"A father."

"A weapon."

"...A monster."

His head tilted slightly.

"But now... I don’t have to be anything."

"I don’t have to endure."

"I don’t have to die for anyone."

"So tell me, Prophetess..."

His grin widened.

"What exactly is left in this world that can make me stop?"

"..."

His expression slowly twisted into something almost euphoric.

"Nothing."

The darkness roared behind him.

"Nothing can hold me anymore."

His eyes burned through the blackness.

"Not fate."

"Not death."

"Not even... The GODS!!"

Aether’s smile became terrifyingly serene.

"Let the heavens fall... Let the world scream."

"The dark shall devour everything"

"The death... coming for you.... all of you!!"

A beat of silence.

Then he whispered:

"And now..."

The darkness behind him surged like an abyss opening its mouth.

"I am no longer the man who survives the inevitable."

His grin widened.

"I am the thing that makes it... inevitable!"

Prophetess went silent.

For the first time, she wasn’t looking at a man who had lost control.

She was looking at someone who had willingly thrown away the last reason he had to regain it.

"T-This isn’t... You, Aether... It’s not like you. You hurt your wife! Have you seen how she cried when she couldn’t do anything to protect you? Or ever thought of what she’s going through? You’re ready to hurt her! Is there no love anymore in you? Think about Aqualina... Have you not said you will protect her? Now Death will come?" She shouted while gasping for air with everything; she had to make him understand the situation.

Aether looked directly at her.

"Aether, do this... Aether, do that... Aether, be a big fucking man and support his family... Aether, seduce women... Aether, be a good man... Aether, be a lovely husband... Aether, be the best father..."

His voice gradually grew louder.

"Aether... Aether... AETHER!!!"

The final scream tore across the ruined city.

Dust rose from the ground.

"Look at me, bitch!"

His expression twisted with years of exhaustion rather than simple rage.

"I am fucking human too!"

His voice cracked.

"I had a heart. I had emotions. I had things I wanted... things I loved... things I was afraid to lose."

"But every fucking time I tried to live for myself, someone needed Aether."

His hand slowly clenched.

"These fucking expectations of being Aether... everything... EVERYTHING WAS FUCKING TAKEN AWAY FROM ME!"

Prophetess stared at him, unable to speak.

"Do you know how it feels?"

His voice became quieter.

That somehow made it worse.

"Watching the world come after me... watching the people I loved get killed again and again..."

His jaw tightened.

"Having to take the life of someone I swore I would protect..."

His eyes lowered.

"And then suffering through hell just to bring them back."

A bitter laugh escaped him.

"For what?"

"In the end, every bitch forgot me."

His voice trembled.

"They forgot the pain. They forgot what it cost. They FORGOT how many times I broke myself just to keep everyone else standing."

He looked toward the ruined horizon.

"For all the pain and suffering I went through, they will never know any of it."

His gaze returned to Prophetess.

"All they know is Aether would turn the tide."

"He is the one they can trust."

"He is their saviour."

Aether’s laughter died before it could fully escape.

"Even the fucking people living in this world think of me as their saviour. While I had to crawl through every nightmare they were never meant to see... again and again... until I finally found a way for everyone to live."

He swallowed.

"And yet... everyone forgets me."

"Why?"

The word came out almost like a child’s question.

"Why?"

His face twisted.

"I had to save them... and they had to die?"

His voice rose.

"Then I had to save them again?"

His fingers trembled.

"What fucking cycle is this? I had to live... I had to suffer... I had to fight... I had to hide... I had to smile when I wanted to scream. AARRRRHHHH!!!"

His crimson eyes slowly lifted.

"What... am.... I?"

His grin returned, but there was no joy behind it.

"A fucking saint?"

"NO!!!!" He shouted furiously at her.

"That Saint Aether is dead."

Aether’s voice was almost gentle.

"He is no more."

His smile widened.

"NO FUCKING MORE!!! HEHEHEHEHE~~~"

The shadow beneath Prophetess tightened around her throat.

She desperately reached toward him.

"Aether... pl-please..."

He stared at her.

For a fraction of a second, something almost human flickered behind his eyes.

Then it vanished.

"I wouldn’t give a shit if the world crumbles."

The words were quiet.

"I wouldn’t give a shit if those bitches died."

His gaze hardened.

"I wouldn’t give a shit if everyone hated me."

His grip tightened.

The darkness followed him like an ocean spilling across the earth.

"For once. I will choose myself."

"For I shall be the one who lives until the very end."

"YOU GOT THIS!!!"

The ruins shook.

"I OWN THIS!!"

His body twisted as black energy surged around him, forming enormous tendrils that tore through the ground.

"I AM..."

His grin stretched impossibly wide.

"THE NEW AETHER!"

The darkness behind him rose like a colossal living silhouette.

"THE ONE AND ONLY!!!"

His eyes burned through the blackness.

"THE AETHER!!!"

A long, serpentine tongue slid across his wicked grin.

Then his mouth began to open.

The jaw stretched, splitting into a monstrous abyss lined with rows of unnatural teeth.

Prophetess stared into the impossible darkness.

For the first time since she caught, she stopped struggling.

Not because she had accepted death.

Because she finally understood the truth.

The thing standing before her wasn’t simply Aether losing himself.

It was Aether choosing to become the monster he had spent his entire existence trying not to become.

And the monstrous mouth descended toward her.

Drip... Drip...

Bloody saliva dripped onto Prophetess’s face and hoodie, one drop after another, warm against her skin.

She slowly raised one trembling finger toward Aether.

"I... I see..." Her voice was quiet, almost swallowed by the suffocating darkness around them.

"I, who saw everything... I didn’t see this pain inside you... I am sorry... I am truly sorry I couldn’t understand what you were carrying all this time."

"But... this is the only path."

Her expression slowly hardened, though sorrow remained in her eyes.

"Cursed by blood..."

The air around her began to tremble.

"Broken by fate..."

The wooden staff in her hand began glowing with a faint radiance.

"Manipulated by the hands of those who sought to shape you..."

The darkness around Aether writhed violently.

"And forsaken by the very world you bled to protect..."

Prophetess lowered her head.

"Oh, Child..."

"My pitiful child..."

Snap!

The moment her fingers snapped, the fabric of reality behind her rippled.

Five radiant beams of white light tore through darkness, emerging from somewhere beyond the visible world.

Chuck!

One pierced through Aether’s arm.

Chuck!

Another drove through his opposite shoulder.

Chuck!

A third pierced his leg.

Chuck!

A fourth struck through his other limb.

Chuck!

The final beam slammed into his torso.

Aether’s entire body jerked violently.

The radiant stakes did not merely pierce him. They seized him, dragging his enormous frame backwards with enough force to carve a deep trench through the shattered ground.

His claws scraped against the earth.

The darkness around his body erupted in resistance, twisting into enormous tendrils that tried to anchor him in place.

But the white light continued pulling.

Dust spiraled around his body as he was dragged farther and farther away from Prophetess.

Then the lights violently hurled him upward.

Prophetess landed heavily on her feet before stumbling forward.

"Cough... cough..."

She pressed one hand against her chest, struggling to regain her breath.

Then she raised her wooden staff.

Her exhausted eyes hardened.

She struck its bottom against the ground.

THOOM!

The sound echoed through the ruins.

The sky above them suddenly became white.

Ringing bells echoed around the reality.

"If I cannot save you from what you have become..."

Her fingers slowly rose.

"Then let the heavens bear witness to your suffering."

The surrounding darkness suddenly began receding.

"Let the light bind what the flesh cannot."

The sky trembled.

"Let the sacred chains restrain what reason cannot."

"And let the Cross descend..."

The staff struck again.

THOOM!

"...upon the one who has lost his way."

"By the First Radiance..."

The entire battlefield turned white.

"By the Eternal Covenant..."

The clouds above began to part.

"By the Judgment that even Primordials cannot defy..."

Prophetess raised her staff toward the heavens.

"I invoke the Order of the Crucifix!"

OOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

A loud unknown sound echoed in the entire space.

A humongous crucifix emerged from the radiant sky, forged entirely from blinding white light.

THUD!

Aether’s body was violently slammed against the enormous crucifix.

The radiant stakes tightened around his limbs, pinning him against the divine structure.

His head hung forward.

His hair covered his face.

For several seconds, there was no movement.

Then his fingers twitched.

His claws slowly curled.

His shoulders began to shake.

"G..."

A low growl escaped his throat.

"GRRRRRRRRRR!!!"

The scream that followed shook the world.

"GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"

Aether’s entire body convulsed as the brilliant light burned through him. Smoke poured from his skin where the radiance touched him, while the darkness inside his body writhed like a living creature trapped beneath his flesh.

The crucifix trembled.

Prophetess’s eyes widened.

She tightened both hands around her wooden staff.

For a moment, she was surprised to see this happening; her visions never mentioned this one either.

Two things she couldn’t see... One his heart and another... his hunger for death!

Aether raised his head.

His face was partially obscured by burning darkness, but his eyes emerged through it.

Two glowing points of hatred.

He stared directly at her.

There was no confusion in those eyes.

No hesitation.

Only pain!

And beneath that pain was an overwhelming desire to tear everything apart.

Prophetess instinctively stepped backwards.

Just one step.

But she felt it.

Fear!

Her fingers tightened around the staff.

THOOM!

Prophetess struck the ground again.

"Forgive me."

Her voice trembled.

Then another beam of brilliant white light appeared behind her.

It struck Aether directly in the forehead.

!!

His body suddenly froze.

His eyes rolled backwards.

The darkness covering his body began to peel away.

It scattered into the air like black ash caught in a powerful wind.

The monstrous claws dissolved.

The twisted darkness around his shoulders vanished.

His face returned to its former shape.

And then his body went completely limp.

THUUUDDDD!!

The crucifix landed on the ground, his body pinned to its centre, resembling a fallen god condemned by the very heavens.

"..."

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Prophetess remained frozen for several seconds, staring at Aether’s motionless body.

She slowly lowered her staff.

Her shoulders sagged.

Only then did she realise how exhausted she truly was.

She took one step.

Her knee buckled.

"Ha... ha..."

She caught herself with the staff.

"I just stood straight after aeons..." she muttered, breathing heavily. "I never felt pain, and now... my back hurts... arh..."

She rubbed her lower back with a miserable expression.

"For someone who has lived this long, I really should have remembered to stretch."

She let out a tired groan.

"Thank you, Aevum."

"You’re welcome~"

A gentle voice echoed inside her mind.

"Is it over?"

Prophetess glanced toward Aether.

His body remained motionless against the enormous crucifix.

She slowly nodded.

"Yeah..."

Her voice carried exhaustion.

"I finally managed to take him down."

The voice became silent.

The prophetess’s lips twitched.

"What?"

"You? Just for your information, if it weren’t for me, you would have died!"

The prophetess sighed.

"If I hadn’t prepared, you would be walking around without your head, you know!"

The voice sounded almost offended.

Prophetess smiled faintly.

"Yeah... We did it together."

"..."

Prophetess raised an eyebrow.

"Again, what?"

"Well... I thought our brothers and sisters weren’t entirely wrong about this thing after all."

Prophetess’s smile disappeared.

The voice continued.

"Look at him. Even for a newborn Primordial, that was far beyond what I expected."

The voice lowered.

"He isn’t simply powerful. His emotions are amplifying the power itself. But there are no emotions I could feel... It’s just empty and yet... emotions amplifying him?... Confusing... Was he faking it? But how... You cannot fake it, can you?"

It was then... Prophetess realised something; she turned deep silent.

"And what happens when he grows?"

The question lingered.

"What happens when that newborn Primordial reaches maturity?"

Prophetess’s fingers tightened around her staff.

The voice continued,

"And according to you, he just went rogue, right?"

The voice paused.

"But... so far, I don’t feel it, Sister Fate."

Prophetess’s eyes narrowed.

"Again, I am not saying we should kill it."

A faint trace of hesitation entered the voice.

"As I have always said, I am against that. We should just seal it. Just like Sister Arcane and Sister Clara."

Prophetess said nothing.

The enormous crucifix continued to shine above the ruined world, illuminating Aether’s unconscious body.

Yet somewhere beneath that divine light...

One of his fingers flickered with black... a metal surface!

Black Armour?

Nobody noticed.

Prophetess fell completely silent for several seconds before slowly shaking her head.

"He is not like them, Aevum... Trust me on this one."

"..."

"I trusted you even after you betrayed us."

"...."

The prophetess sighed.

She slowly planted her wooden staff against the ground and was just about to push herself upright when a sudden, violent pain erupted inside her skull.

Her entire body froze.

Her fingers instantly tightened around the staff.

It felt as though something had forcibly entered her mind and was crawling through her consciousness, tearing through layers of thought that had existed untouched for countless ages.

Her visions... blurred.

"Fate?" Aevum immediately asked.

The prophetess pressed a hand against her forehead, her breathing becoming uneven.

"Hmm... something is blocking my visions."

"Huh? Is there someone who could block your visions?" The voice sounded genuinely shocked.

But Aevum had made Prophetess unable to find her before, right? Until she revealed herself?

The truth was that Prophetess knew where Aevum was. The problem was that Aevum was everywhere.

In every vision, Aevum appeared in a different position, existing along a different path of the future. She wasn’t blocking Prophetess’s visions. She was simply making herself nearly impossible to distinguish.

Every time Prophetess thought she had found the correct path, another possibility unfolded before her.

That was why Prophetess kept searching, patiently following one possibility after another, trying to find the one perfect path among the countless futures branching before her.

If they had more time, she wouldn’t have needed to talk things through with Aevum at all. She could have continued searching until she found the future she wanted.

But.... This was different.

The visions themselves were being blocked.

Entire possibilities simply vanished whenever she tried to look beyond a certain point.

The prophetess’s expression slowly hardened.

But who possessed such a capability?

!!

Then her eyes widened.

It was at that moment that the Prophetess remembered.

There was one existence capable of doing this.

The one who had hunted (hers) down in previous timelines like a mad dog.

The one whose presence had always remained outside the reach of her visions.

The one she had desperately tried to avoid across countless possibilities.

"...No."

Her throat tightened.

The pale sky above them suddenly darkened.

The brilliant radiance surrounding the enormous crucifix began to fade as black clouds spread across the heavens, swallowing the light layer by layer.

CRACK!

Prophetess’s eyes immediately snapped toward Aether.

The Eternal Chain Bracelet around Aether’s left ankle suddenly shattered into radiant particles before dissolving into nothingness.

At the same time, the Eternal Chain Bracelet around his right ankle developed a deep crack.

Crack...

A thick fracture spread across its surface as if on the verge of breaking away.

Then, in the next instant, a cold, menacing voice entered the very fabric of reality itself.

"Just have to ruin my fun."

The moment those words were spoken, the entire world seemed to acknowledge them as if they sided with that voice!

Prophetess froze.

She saw it. Or rather...

She saw the one thing she had spent countless futures trying to avoid.

Her death.

Her heart began pounding violently against her chest.

Her voice barely escaped her throat.

"...27."

"Yours, inevitably."